Bliss An 'Optimist ... But Not A Dreamer'

Before he was publicly introduced as the Crew's interim coach, Brian Bliss had already put his players through their first training session with him at the helm.

At the team's facility in Obetz, Bliss assembled the roster and delivered his first message since taking over for Robert Warzycha.

Before he was publicly introduced as the Crew's interim coach after Robert Warzycha was fired, Brian Bliss had already put his players through their first training session with him at the helm.

At the team's facility in Obetz, Bliss assembled the roster and delivered his first message since taking over for Robert Warzycha.

"As I told the players today, I'm an optimist in terms of what we do but I'm not a dreamer and there's a difference. If you need a dictionary, look it up," he said. "I believe this team can achieve. We've got some games left. We owe it to ourselves and to each other in the locker room, we owe it to the club and certainly to the fans. I was clear about that in the locker room today and I truly believe that."

Monday is normally an off day for the club, but the Crew faces a quick turnaround after Saturday's home loss to Seattle. The Crew hosts Houston on Wednesday night before departing Friday to play Sporting Kansas City on Saturday. For a team eight points out of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with eight games remaining, anything less than two wins would be disastrous.

The team's final eight games are split evenly between home and road matches, and the old axiom of needing to win at home and draw away no longer applies to the Crew.

"With eight games left you've got to win some of those (away) games and get some help from some other folks within the league," Bliss said. "I'm optimistic and I think we're going to work hard in order to achieve those results, but I'm also not dreaming about it either. It's a tough row to hoe, but we've got to be recommitted and focused on defending and we've obviously got to score some goals."

Players were not made available today, and Bliss said he preferred to keep most of their conversation private. After talking to the players, Bliss said he gave them half an hour to digest the news before a 20-minute video session followed by a training session.

Team president and general manager Mark McCullers said Bliss has had a clause in his contract as technical director that would allow him to leave for a head coaching position.

"Brian has always been very forthright in his desire to be a coach in this league," McCullers said. "He's always been very honest about that. I know his coaching ambitions so I knew that he would want to assume the interim role."

Although he is the guy now in charge, Bliss said he would not be making any sweeping changes – largely due to the fact that there is little time remaining in which to do so. The MLS roster freeze deadline is Sept. 13 and the Crew is unlikely to make any moves.

Tactically, Bliss said he has a few new points of emphasis for the Crew.

"For the long-term, for me, it's about playing a little more up-tempo," he said. "Yes, we all want to play possession, but there's a goal at the other end of the field we've got to get to. Playing up-tempo, getting to the goal quicker and hopefully recovering the ball quicker – not necessarily higher, but recovering the ball quicker. Hopefully we can make some ground in those areas in order to get across how we feel this team should play."

Despite that, Bliss said he is not changing the team's overall approach.

"Certainly I'm not going to leave any rock unturned in terms of getting the team going in the right direction, and that's not to say that we are changing direction," he said. "We're not changing direction. The team was set out to play a certain way, achieve some certain goals and we just need to get back on the track in the direction that we set out. That's my job, to refocus the group and get them recommitted to the task at hand. I thought today was a good first start in that. I want to thank those players for the effort they gave me today. Now we're on our way moving forward. "

Bliss and Warzycha were teammates for two seasons with the Crew and have worked together for the last six years in the front office. The team's new coach said he had not yet spoken with his predecessor out of respect but that he would reach out once some time had passed.

Asked how his style is different from Warzycha's, Bliss said, "I think you can probably tell by my voice, I'm a little hoarse. I like to talk at practice. My style may be a little bit different. I may be a little bit louder, more encouraging maybe. I like to coach from a positive standpoint, and I'm not saying Robert coaches from a negative standpoint. I don't want to use the word 'cheerleading' but I'm very supportive of what goes on on the field but also fair and critical with the players as well. I like to coach from what I call a positive standpoint and use my words for that."

ajardy@dispatch.com@AdamJardy

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